​Meeting of the Minds announced that its 11th annual summit will convene in Cleveland, Ohio from October 23-25 at the Global Center for Health Innovation. Meeting of the Minds is a global leadership network and knowledge-sharing platform based in the San Francisco Bay Area and led by Jessie Feller Hahn, Executive Director, and Co-founder Gordon Feller. For the past seven years, Mr. Feller has served as a Director and consultant at Cisco Systems headquarters in Silicon Valley, a Global Center tenant partner.

“Cleveland is an excellent choice for the annual summit because it knows how to build economic clusters and is embarking on an exciting new urban revitalization and smart city strategy across an ecosystem of partners from technology, public sector, philanthropy, academic, and community organizations,” said Feller Hahn. “Cleveland is not only home to major healthcare systems such as the Cleveland Clinic, University Hospitals and MetroHealth but Ohio is also the third largest modern manufacturing state in the country.”

Last year’s Meeting of the Minds annual summit in Richmond, California featured a presentation by Cuyahoga County Executive Armond Budish. Conversations between Cuyahoga County public officials and event organizers before, during, and after the summit led to a January site visit and selection of Cleveland and the Global Center as the home for the 2017 summit.“I am thrilled that Meeting of the Minds chose Cuyahoga County and the Global Center for Health Innovation as hosts,” said Budish. “Hosting this event for innovation leaders around the globe will further enhance our standing as center for innovative leadership. We are uniquely positioned to host the annual summit as our region is home to a strong, growing innovation ecosystem, to world class healthcare, to advanced manufacturing, to a vibrant arts and culture scene and to academic institutions all working towards strengthening our region and our neighborhoods. As a community, we are tasked with training our residents for the jobs of today and tomorrow, attracting residents to the region, growing and creating jobs and businesses, redeveloping and revitalizing former industrial areas, linking our neighborhoods to our employment resources and developing a smart city strategy. Much has already been accomplished but, similar to other cities and counties around the world, there are major challenges ahead – challenges we are tackling head on.”Since it was founded a decade ago, Meeting of the Minds has been dedicated to bringing together a carefully chosen set of key urban sustainability and technology stakeholders and gathering them around a common platform in ways that help build lasting alliances, a vital ingredient for smart, sustainable and equitable urban (re)development strategies.Meeting of the Minds focuses on the innovators and initiatives at the bleeding edge of urban sustainability and connected technology. Through its blog, magazine, monthly webinars, monthly meetups, workshops, roundtables, and the annual summit held each fall, Meeting of the Minds invites international thought leaders from the public, private, non-profit, academic and philanthropic sectors to identify innovations that can be scaled, replicated and transferred from city-to-city and across sectors.Among the thousands of international leaders who participate in the Meeting of the Minds digital and in-person events are innovators scaling-up practical urban solutions in infrastructure, policy, design, equity, technology, energy, mobility, water, finance, and more.Now in its 11th year, the Meeting of the Minds annual fall summit brings together 425+ opinion-shapers, policy-makers, leading thinkers and innovators from 20+ countries for 2+ days of intensive immersion in thought leadership and cross-sector partnership building.This year’s Meeting of the Minds annual summit on the shores of Lake Erie will unearth tools and best practices working for city leaders across the globe. Sessions will spotlight solutions that are scalable, replicable and transferable from city-to-city and sector-to-sector.Event registration fees for Meeting of the Minds 2017 are $650.00 for Early Bird Registration (April 10-July 14), $750.00 for General Registration (July 15-October 6), and $900.00 for Late Registration (After October 6). Scholarships are available for public sector leaders, early-stage entrepreneurs, and community organizations. For event information, visit http://cityminded.org/events/motm2017About the Global Center for Health InnovationThe Global Center for Health Innovation was built in Cleveland to serve as the focal point for healthcare innovation, conventions, and industry-specific meetings, and is home to internationally recognized brands such as GE Healthcare, Siemens, Philips Healthcare, Cisco Systems, Cardinal Health, and the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) along with Cleveland Clinic and University Hospitals. The Global Center is home to 45 of the world’s leading healthcare brands and more than 300 industry meetings annually. Each tenant partner space displays innovation and technology contributing to the overall mission of improving patient outcomes and lowering costs for healthcare providers and consumers. About Cuyahoga CountyA little more than a century ago, America was in the throes of the industrial revolution. Cleveland, with more inventors and millionaires than any other city of the same size was its Silicon Valley. Fast forward and the city and Cuyahoga County are once again in the innovation game. It starts with infrastructure -- Cuyahoga County, the economic center of Northeast Ohio, is home to world-renowned healthcare facilities and has a booming biotechnology and biomedical industry, with more than 700 companies employing 230,000 people. Just as important is the mindset. Government, philanthropy, businesses, academic institutions are all working together to support the innovation continuum and to continue to strengthen our region with smart, sustainable solutions.About Meeting of the MindsMeeting of the Minds brings together urban sustainability and technology leaders to share knowledge and build lasting alliances. We foster person-to-person and city-to-city learning by spotlighting projects and practitioners working on urban solutions in these 8 focus areas:• Environment• Infrastructure• Mobility• Technology• Resources• Society• Economy• GovernanceWe connect people and ideas through digital and in-person events and resources, including:• Our annual fall summit• Roundtable discussions• Meet-ups• Print magazine• Our blog• Webinars• Online courses• Event archivesMore information: http://cityminded.org/video